Neil Warnock has parted company with Queens Park Rangers and Mark Hughes is set to complete a surprise return to west London, having walked away from Fulham in the summer. Warnock has paid the price for the team's run of dismal results and his failure to see eye to eye with the owner, Tony Fernandes, over squad strengthening.

There would be some irony in Hughes taking over. When he left Craven Cottage in the summer amid great acrimony, it was with the ambition of competing higher up the table. Hughes felt that he was primed in June to succeed Gérard Houllier at Aston Villa, only for the move to break down.

The final act for Warnock came in Milton Keynes on Saturday, when QPR needed an 89th‑minute equaliser from Heidar Helguson to salvage a fortunate 1-1 FA Cup third‑round draw with the League One side MK Dons. Fernandes had travelled with 5,000 Rangers supporters; he was deeply unimpressed and he saw the need to take decisive action. Only last week he had suggested, in a tweet, that nobody's job at the club was safe.

But it was not a snap decision, with tensions having built for some weeks, and there was the sense that both parties had agreed the separation was necessary. There was even the suggestion that it was Warnock who jumped before he was pushed, as he had become so frustrated over January transfer targets. He had spoken for some weeks about the need for at least "three or four" new faces and he wanted to add them on the opening of the window or as close to it as possible.

So far QPR have signed only the striker Federico Macheda on loan from Manchester United. Warnock was at loggerheads with Fernandes over several targets, chief among them the Blackburn Rovers striker Yakubu Ayegbeni, whom he wanted but Fernandes did not. The pair had met at the end of last week to discuss transfer business. Warnock left the meeting feeling that his position had become untenable.

Fernandes became the club's majority shareholder on 18 August, when he bought Bernie Ecclestone's 66% stake. Perversely it was a source of frustration to Warnock that the Malaysian businessman had not gained control sooner in order to allow him a better shot during the summer transfer market.

"My biggest regret is that the takeover didn't happen earlier, because that would have given me the opportunity to bring in the targets I'd pinpointed all last summer and probably given us a better chance to succeed in the Premier League," Warnock said on Sunday night.

Warnock succeeded in lifting QPR back to the Premier League after a 15-year absence – they were promoted as Championship champions last May – and he has left with happy memories, even if irritation is vying for prominence. "Obviously I'm very disappointed but, having achieved so much, I leave the club with a great sense of pride. I have enjoyed my time here more than anywhere else and the QPR fans have been brilliant with me. They deserve success.

"The board at QPR are hugely ambitious and I wish them every success for the future. I've been involved in the game a long time and I will be spending the immediate future with my family and friends before deciding my next career move."

Warnock, ultimately, fell because of his results. Never mind the near humiliation in Milton Keynes – where Alejandro Faurlín ruptured his knee ligament and will be out for the rest of the season – his team had taken only two points in the league from an available 24. They sit 17th in the table, one point above the relegation cut-off. The club said, in a statement, that fears over relegation had motivated the decision to part company. Warnock's assistants Mick Jones and Keith Curle have also left the club.

"This decision has been made in the best interests of the club," Fernandes said, "and I can assure everyone that this is not a decision that was made lightly. Sadly our recent run of poor form has seen us slip alarmingly down the table and the board felt it was the right time to make a change. Neil has acted with honesty, professionalism and integrity throughout his time at the club and I would personally like to thank him for his significant contribution to QPR over the last 22 months. I genuinely wish him all the very best for the future and he will always be welcome back at Loftus Road."

Fernandes later added on Twitter: "Trust me in 47 years of life I have never had to make such a tough decision. There is no doubt Neil was a good man. A great man. I and the board had to do what we felt was good for the club."